# receiver
## English
### Etymology

From Anglo-Norman receverre, receivour et al., later also reformed as receive +‎ -er. Compare recevor, rescaivour.

### Pronunciation

* (General American) IPA: /ɹəˈsi.vɚ/
* (UK) IPA: /ɹɪˈsiː.və/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -iːvə(ɹ)

### Noun

receiver (plural receivers)
* A person who receives.
** (now historical) An official whose job is to receive taxes or other monies; a tax collector, a treasurer. [from 14th c.]
** A person who receives something in a general sense; a recipient. [from 14th c.]
*** 1850, Charles Dickens, “The Begging-Letter Writer”, in Household Words:I, the writer of this paper, have been, for some time, a chosen receiver of Begging Letters.
** A person who accepts stolen goods. [from 14th c.]
** A person or company appointed to settle the affairs of an insolvent entity. [from 18th c.]
*** 1961 October, “Talking of Trains: Last of the M.S.W.J.R.”, in Trains Illustrated, page 585:It took the name Midland & South Western Junction in 1884 and reached Cheltenham, with its M.R. connection, in 1891; but poverty continued - a receiver had been appointed in 1884.
    Synonyms: insolvency administrator, insolvency practitioner, liquidator, administrator, court administrator, trustee in bankruptcy
** (American football) An offensive player who catches the ball after it has been passed. [from 19th c.]
** (racquet sports) A person who attempts to return the serve. [from 20th c.]
* An item or apparatus that receives.
** Something which receives some substance or object, in a general sense; a receptacle. [from 14th c.]
** (chemistry) A vessel for receiving and holding the products of distillation, or for containing gases. [from 16th c.]
** (now chiefly historical) An airtight vessel from which air is pumped in order to form a vacuum. [from 17th c.]
*** 1791, James Boswell, Life of Johnson, Oxford, published 2008, page 839:A man can live in thick air, but perishes in an exhausted receiver.
** (firearms) The part of a firearm containing the action. [from 19th c.]
** (now historical) A vessel for receiving the exhaust steam from the high-pressure cylinder before it enters the low-pressure cylinder, in a compound steam engine. [from 19th c.]
** Any of several electronic devices that receive electromagnetic waves, or signals transmitted as such. [from 19th c.]
    Antonym: transmitter
*** 1976, Boating (volume 40, numbers 1-2, page 152)
    The FCC says it decided to attempt standardization of VHF receivers after getting "thousands of complaints" from disgruntled boatmen who found their sets brought in mostly a lot of garble and static.
** The part of a telephone handset contained in the earpiece; (hence) the handset itself; an earpiece. [from 19th c.]
** (finance) A swaption which gives its holder the option to enter into a swap in which they pay the floating leg and receive the fixed leg.

#### Coordinate terms

* (electronic device that receives signals and converts them into sound or vision): transmitter-receiver, transceiver

#### Derived terms

* Ader receiver
* cat's whisker receiver
* crystal radio receiver
* exhausted receiver
* first receiver
* GPS receiver
* rake receiver
* RAKE receiver
* receiver-general
* receiverless
* receivership
* spoon receiver
* superheterodyne receiver
* supersonic heterodyne receiver
* watch receiver
* wide receiver